No. 4.] BEP:F PKODUCTION in new ENGLAND. 65 



the average distance of his growth to Chicago will be as 

 much more. Comiuissions and other costs will bring the 

 total up to at least $10. This much for the tariff of distance 

 in favor of the New England steer. Is it enou2:h? 



If we regard the producer of beef as a purchaser of all the 

 feeds given it is not enough. It will require, in round 

 numbers, 7^^ tons of food to grow 1,500 pounds of steer. 

 INIore than $10 more would be required to purchase this 

 food here than in the west, the hay costing here double 

 what it Avill there. 



But we logically and corrcctl}^ must view the feeder as 

 the farmer marketing his own products on his farm through 

 the steers in question. 



In the west the hay feed may at market rates be sold or 

 charged to the steer at a loss, while here at our rates at a 

 profit. The transaction must be regarded as a whole. 



Will the same amount of energy or expenditure here pro- 

 duce 1,500 pounds of steer that is required to produce him 

 there, and lay him down in our market ? 



The writer is pursuing a rotation of crops so far developed 

 as to give fair warrant to the belief that 7y2 tons of food, 

 the amount estimated as required to produce 1,500 pounds 

 of live steer, can be grown to advantage on 2^/2 acres of 

 ground. Can the western producer grow this food on 'lYo 

 acres of ground more than $10 cheaper? In either case the 

 feeders will have equal advantage in the manure produced 

 for use on the farm and essentially the same cost of applica- 

 tion. 



The eastern farmer will have $4 per acre to expend for 

 chemical fertilizers or plant food. Under wise management 

 I do not hesitate to say that in a short series of years the 

 New England producer would have the more productive 

 farm, or, in other words, that he would be able to produce 

 more beef per acre than the western feeder. Our soils have, 

 under intensive methods, equal capacity of production and 

 greater retentive powers. 



The cost of tilling an acre of ground here may be slightly 

 more than in the west, possibly a half dollar an acre more 

 during a rotation period per year, and the protein foods 



